Improvement in baskets



PATENT OFFICE.

E. B. LYMAN, OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT.v

IMPROVEMENT IN BASKETS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 49,7711, dated September 5, 1865.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, E. B. LYMAN, of Waterbury, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Baskets; and I do herebydeclaro that thefollowin g is afull, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable those skilled in the art to make and use lthe same, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 1s an end elevation ofa basket made according to my invention, one ot' the lower corners being broken away to show the construction of the base. Fig. 2 is a plan view of i the basket.

Similar letters ot' reference indicate corresponding parts.

This invention consists in making the base of baskets, hampers, and other similar structures in such a manner as to protect the bottom and the corners from injuryT and wear, the

base being formed with as many sides as therel are sides to the basket, each side being a solid piece, and the several pieces being framed or joined together at their ends in any suitable manner.

Ais a basket, the body of which is made in this example of my invention of wood-work, woven or laced together in the usual manner. It is fitted with a grooved rim, C, constructed after the invention of Evelyn Beecher, of Connecticut, to which rim and wood-work are secured the usual handles, B. The bottoms of baskets and other similar articles are usually subjected to hard usage, and they have sometimes been protected by cleats running beneath and across them. The cleats are an imperfect protection to the bottom, while the edges and corners of the basket are altogether unprotected and exposed to abrasion and injury from every body they are brought into contact with. Moreover, in the usual styles of such baskets the warp of the wood-work is of a length equal to the sum of the breadth of the basket added to twice its height.

My invention ai'ords a perfect protection to those parts of the basket which are most eX- posed to violent usage and wear, and eects an economy in the matter of material.

D D D D represent four solid rails, joined at their ends and their joints protected by metallic plates d, bent around and nailed to adiacent ends. I have also shown the corners of the rim protected by metallic plates c.

e is a horizontal groove made along the whole inner face of each rail, and e is a vertical groove made along the whole upper surface ot' each rail, as seen in Fig. 1. The grooves e c' must not intersect each other, nor must they approach each other very near, else the rails would be likely to split in the line ot' the grooves. The lower ends of the upright strands of the wood-work a are inserted in the groove e ot' each rail D, and afterward secured therein by rivets or equivalent fastening devices. The upper ends of the upright strands are also secured in the rails of the rim C, which are grooved upon their under surfaces. The ends of the strands a of which the bottom is made are inserted in the horizontal grooves e of the rails D, and properly secured therein` by rivets or other suitable means.

Care must be taken that the rivets which secure the upright strands in the grooves e are driven below the line ot' the horizontal grooves e.

When the area of the bottom of the basket is so great as to require additional support besides that given to it by the rails D, I provide one or more intermediary rails, E, the ends of which are secured in the sides of opposite rails D in any proper manner.

' My invention enables me to employ any thin material for the side walls and bottom of the .basket-for instance, veneers or thin layers of wood or other thin and light material which is capable of being secured in the grooves c e'. Such veneers maybe of greater or less width, so as to have openings occur between their edges when ventilation is desired in the sides and bottom of a basket when narrow veneers are used, or to have opaque sides and bottom when wider veneers are used. This method of construction will enable me also to dispense with interlaced horizontal strands of the wood- Work, as shown in the accompanying drawings, when veneers of the requisite stiffness and strength are employed.

By constructing baskets and similar articles for household and factory use with a base of rails in the manner above explained, it is evident that their bottoms are not only protected from injury, but also their corners and the edges of their bottoms.

Instead of making horizontal grooves to receive the ends of the horizontal bottom veneers, I can, according to the principle of my'invention, make rabbets along the inner edges of the rails which shall receive the ends of the veneers, and the said rabbets be then lled up flush with the upper surfaces ofthe rails, thereby protect-ing and confining the ends of the veneers. The sides of the basket can be secured in the same waythat is, by means of rabbets in the rails which shall receive the -lower edges of said sides, said rabbets being` afterward protected in the manner above set forth.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- Forming a base of solid rails, D, in the construction of baskets, hampers, and similar articles, and securing their sides and bottoms to the rails by means of grooves e e', substantially as above described.

E. B. LYMAN.

Witnesses WM; F. MGNAMARA, M. M. LIVINGSTON. 

